Explore the reading

Invite people to get into small groups and talk about skills and interests they have that others might not know about. This might mean adults telling young people about their work and children talking about activities they are involved in. After a few moments, invite some of the groups to feed back to the larger group. Express interest and surprise at some of the responses.

Ask people to research all the jobs that need to be done to make the Church work. Encourage people to look around for ideas, and get some to go outside and report back. Look too at magazines, pew sheets and the church’s website. Then, on a large drawing of a church (either your own place of worship or an outline, stylised image) write up ideas. Talk about how rich the church is in gifts and abilities, yet often we don’t recognise that these gifts are in our midst. Jesus had the same problem. The people who knew him didn’t expect him to be able to do much – and he found it hard to do any miracles in that place. When other people have a low opinion of us, it is much more difcult to have condence in ourselves. Jesus used his own experience to help the disciples. They had been watching him for ages and they had seen that things sometimes went wrong. They went in twos so they could help and support each other.